Grunambulax

I've seen that method referred to and tried it myself with poor results. I've found that the slower you heat it the better. I used to use a butane lighter/torch but I found that candles work better. I think that the more intense the heat, the greater the probability of developing a second line of cleavage which is what makes a jagged cut. In the end, everyone develops their own method and if that works for you, great.

Я беспокоюсь о бензине. Огнеопасно. Но это звучит эффективно. Благодарю.

Although I love the look of this I would caution that this must be kept out of reach of babies. The hangers could be a choking hazard and the sharp end cause cuts or eye injuries. Again, I love the look but I would still leave a word of caution here.

Thank you for the kind words and best wishes to you and yours at the holidays. Happy making!

At first I thought you bought the Uncle Fester Head and just stuck a lamp in its mouth. Watching the video really made me appreciate the artistry of how you created the sculpture and then enhanced it with paint. Really well done! If I might suggest it might look really cool to use an incandescent squirrel cage bulb to give it that creepy retro look. And if it was possible to have the bulb auto-dim on a cycle it would really be cool.

Yeah. And i sanded that 1/2 hour

I have to have respect for anyone that did that kind of handwork! It must be a beauty.

I finally decided to convert the base to black.

This might well work. My concern is that the miter joints are so finicky. They can easily be misaligned. But I think this method might be well worth the try

Did you use marine grade plywood? It has adhesive built to withstand outdoor weather. Also, it tends to be pretty good quality wood

Mine too.

Yes. All good ideas. In practice, the pipes warm up to about 30 Celsius and I think that also helps to dry the shoes. I've been running in the rain here the past week and this version has really been helpful. I kind of wish now that I had integrated a timer into the build itself as I think that's a good safety measure.

I'm happy to hear this. Keep in mind that the 45 degree miter joints can be a bit of a challenge. I'd give that a go but you can also build a really fine looking bank with just edge to edge (butt) joints. The back can either be set the way I did and that's pretty easy if you have a table saw or you can just glue the masonite to the back. There are lots of options and no wrong ways. I hope you will let me know of your progress.

Thank you and I hope that you can use the method. I've seen a couple of different doors. Some have two dials. My guess though is that they all share the similarity of having a slot that a bolt goes thru when set to the right combination. I assumed that this would be hidden and I'd have to remove a cover of the mechanism to see it but when you think about it, because the only way you can see it is to have the door open, there was no need to make the combination hidden. Good luck with yours.

Thanks. It was a lot of fun to make.

That’s about the nicest comment I’ve gotten. Thanks so much

This is an absolutely breathtaking restoration. I love everything from the process of removing the rebar to the use of the brass and how the gold paint complements it. Do you currently actually use this? It's so gorgeous that I would be afraid to mess it up. I wonder what the original owner would think if he could see it now.

Those are both great ideas. I have found though that even without doing that if I'm standing about 5 feet away it looks like a real flame. I'd love to see a video of either the frosted glass or the hot glue flame effect!

Bicycle spoke: love the idea!

Most low voltage systems are 12V. For that you would need to use a 9-12 V battery without a resistor. Using 8 AA batteries would last a long time but a single 9V would probably run out of juice kind of quickly. You could easily use a flashlight bulb. They run on 3V and that would solve the problem. The beauty of LED's is they are small, they use very little energy, and in the case of the ones I use, they are actually programmed to look like a candle flame. If you buy the ones I got from Amazon, you don't need any resistor if you use two batteries. They actually come with resistors if you want to use a power source that is 6-12 V. You can figure out which end goes to which on the battery by trial and error. It won't hurt the LED. Just make sure to put the resistor, if you use i...

Most low voltage systems are 12V. For that you would need to use a 9-12 V battery without a resistor. Using 8 AA batteries would last a long time but a single 9V would probably run out of juice kind of quickly. You could easily use a flashlight bulb. They run on 3V and that would solve the problem. The beauty of LED's is they are small, they use very little energy, and in the case of the ones I use, they are actually programmed to look like a candle flame. If you buy the ones I got from Amazon, you don't need any resistor if you use two batteries. They actually come with resistors if you want to use a power source that is 6-12 V. You can figure out which end goes to which on the battery by trial and error. It won't hurt the LED. Just make sure to put the resistor, if you use it, on the wire going to the flat side of the battery. If you have any questions, just ask.

Great idea and really fine build. I hope I can make a couple of small suggestions though for your future builds. First, if you can get a pocket hole jig then it will make those 45 degree screws so much easier and it also provides a nice counter sink for the screw head to set. Second, with the uprights you can increase the rigidity and stability markedly if you cut recesses into the bottom pieces (dadoes). This allows the wood to be held like a vice. And it also allows you to use glue. In a project like this I go for Titebond II. Some people suggest Titebond III because it's outside but I've had projects outside for years with Titebond II. But again, nice work, nice writeup and nice photos. Well-explained.

Thanks Gadisha. Like all my projects I designed this while I was running. I struggled with whether to make the base gloss black but in the end I liked the look. I enjoyed your projects too and especially the solar system earrings. Nice work.

This is really awesome. If I ever get a lathe the first thing I'm going to do after I get divorced because I got a lathe is to built this.

Interesting. I guess that there are a lot of pretty viable solutions here. I too would have worried that I was converting my hub to a science experiment on rust, but apparently not! Thanks for the comment.

I must look into PJ1. thanks!

I have to agree about the chainsaw smell. I could use it as aftershave.

I've been amazed at how many people already were doing this. When I think of how much money I wasted on expensive citrus degreaser I could kick myself. The rack... I had to wonder if it made sense to build something in 6 hours when I could have used an old six-pack holder. But in the end I felt good to have something beautiful even for the most ordinary tasks. Thank you for your interesting comment and happy building!

Wow. This is awesome! Great ideas and mods!

Nice idea. Wax lube is new to me

You had me at bacon

This sounds luke it’s worth a trial

I didn’t know that. This provides a great option

Great work. I love the color of the cedar and the sculpted shape really adds "lift" and lightness to it. Really well done.